Fighting Fascism here ♦ Why We Need Communism here ♦ Report from India comrades here
Fighting Fascism from India to the US
INDIA, January 26— Farmers march into Delhi, welcomed with flowers by masses of workers lining the streets. There are 250,000 tractors, each carrying dozens of people. Many breach police barricades. Elsewhere, farmers leave the tractors on the freeway and start marching on foot. The enormous rally escalates into pitched battles as police attack with teargas and batons at hundreds of locations. The police, completely overwhelmed, are forced to retreat. Finally, masses reach the Red Fort, a symbolic rallying point. Police fall into deep ditches to avoid serious injury as they come under sustained attack.
Comrades of International Communist Workers’ Party participate in large numbers. They are prepared to distribute literature but amidst the battle — running, shouting, teargas, retreat, and then advancing again – that isn’t possible. They stick with the friends they came with.
“The masses have just woken up, the fight for communism is in our hands,” exclaims a comrade, inspired. “There is no going back to the old days of misery and helplessness,” reports another. “It will be a battle between communism and the brutality of fascism. There is no third way.”
From a big march in Bengaluru a comrade declares: “We are igniting the fury of the future. The farmers have shown that barricades will come down. We have to show that communism will usher in a new society without money. That is communism. We will win!”
Industrial Workers, Farmers and Youth Explain Why We Need Communism
INDIA, January 22—On a cold January night in Delhi, several comrades of the International Communist Workers’ Party (ICWP) were glued to the news of fascist coup attempt in Washington D.C. They discussed how it would affect the farmers’ struggle in India. “It calls for all of us to show that only communism will end fascist brutality from India to the US,” they concluded.”
This was a recurring theme among comrades who were reading Hindi-language copies of the ICWP document Mobilize the Masses for Communism.
Trump’s fascist coup attempt has exposed serious dangers faced by the US ruling class. Biden’s White House will lead an extremely weak US imperialism. The irony of this weakness was revealed when Trump was banned from Twitter at the same time fascist Modi and his lieutenants, who openly carried out fascist pogroms in India, are courted by executives from Twitter, Facebook and WhatsApp.
In another gathering, two dozen friends and members of ICWP discussed why communism will win. “We are living in a world that is unbearable to the workers everywhere,” said a comrade with urgency. “The bosses resort to fascism to terrorize us. But look at what is happening. The farmers are rebelling. There were mass murders of Dalits and Muslims last year and millions came out to oppose the fascists of the ruling BJP.” Building a mass base of communists, with ICWP’s leadership, can transform mass anger into an explosion for communist revolution.
Many comrades in Delhi continue participating in the mass protests of over a million farmers and workers, bringing them communist literature. In last three months we have circulated 10,000 leaflets and papers. This struggle has given us an opportunity to get to know people. We spend almost every day with them. We sleep, cook, sing and discuss politics them.
The Price of Onions and the Struggle to Survive
A major issue is the government’s proposed elimination of Minimum Support Price (MSP) in 23 essential commodities. MSP subsidizes farmers against fluctuating prices and also shields workers from sudden increases in food bills.
Onion is one key crop controlled by the government. When MSP was eliminated, hoarding of onions and skyrocketing prices of pesticides and fertilizers increased the food price to Rs. 50/kg (US$0.31/lb.) while the farmer was paid less than Rs. 1/kg (under US$0.01 /lb.).
The low price of onions made it impossible for thousands of farmers to survive. Many were forced to migrate to cities in search of jobs that don’t exist. Many more have died by suicide. Some youth, facing a bleak future in the villages, try to join the army. Women work as domestic servants in cities, and some join the ranks of garment sweatshops.
Migrant workers resort to day labor. Some find industrial work. As the situation worsens, some turn to drugs, prostitution and gang violence. Hunger, starvation, cramped housing, eviction notices, racist harassment… all because the price of onions has dropped!
What is happening to the onion growers is happening to tens and even hundreds of millions around the world. We need to get rid of capitalism, whose production for maximum profits creates unending horrors, up to and including fascism.
Sowing the Seeds of Communism
Communism will eliminate money, hoarding, production for profit, capitalist agribusiness and markets. We will produce to meet the masses’ needs and struggle to share scarcity as well as abundance.
In our conversations with the farmers in Delhi, we are sowing the seeds of communism. More workers are reading our literature. We are creating nuclei of workers to form cells that will continue to do communist work when they go back to their villages. Several new comrades will be able to translate Red Flag into Punjabi.
ICWP is also taking this struggle to the garment work in Bengaluru. Six comrades are talking with their neighbors about the importance of the communist organizing in Delhi. Many workers relate directly to the struggle because they are only one generation removed from the land. They have been very passionate about distributing clothes to Delhi, where the farmers are facing subzero temperatures. Last month we were able send a letter of communist solidarity with a package of clothes.
We coordinated these efforts with comrades in Chennai who work in the auto industry. One has reconnected with his son, who is in the army. He is going to send us letters from others in the army about abuses they face.
ICWP comrades in three cities, possibly more, are planning a communist May Day this year under the banners of ICWP. We invite all to increase circulation of our communist literature, and to join. We extend comradely greetings especially to the brave workers in Pakistan who have been supporting us.
Latest Report of ICWP Participation in the Massive Indian Class Struggle
This is a report by one of the four groups that our Indian comrades have organized and mobilized to participate in the struggle and take our communist ideas and vision of communism to the masses in motion and sharp struggle. The other three groups haven’t yet gotten in touch with us or with the comrade sending us this report.
DELHI, India, January 29–We spent a day marching early at 6 am. All day we encountered lots of barricades and each one of them was breached by the thousands of tractors and workers. We were overwhelmed by the masses that were waiting for us everywhere. They offered us food, water and showered us with flowers.
We participated in the battle that forced thousands of police to retreat in fear when we were at the Red Fort. At nighttime, we headed back in the tractors. The workers made a military formation to be in a large group of tractors so the cops would not attack us.
Soon we realized that the whole town had come back to greet us on our way back to the tents. This time, the number of workers had swollen beyond what we can see. They were in the streets, in apartment building, on top of the trees and on terraces of buildings. All their anger was directed at the fascist police. The police completely left us alone then.
But when we arrived after midnight, things changed suddenly. We found ourselves completely without electricity, water, and sewer system. There were over 100,000 farmers and workers. In the darkness and cold night, the police started a furious attack. They targeted everyone including children and the elderly.
Our brave youth were very quick to organize and counterattack. They organized themselves in groups of 4 to 6, and stood guard in every tent and row between the tents. Pretty soon these youth ordered everyone to join them. Our comrades joined as well. We had heavy sticks to defend us.
We saw that many of the farmers were severely wounded. Some of us gave them help and attended to their needs while others were chasing the police. It was a fight between the police and our brave youth. It lasted for over two hours.
Our youth got the upper hand. They took blows but did not retreat. In one location the entire police force defected and put down their weapons. After the police realized that they could not win, they left the area. Water and electricity were restored.
We have learned many valuable lessons. It is truly a battle between our class and the oppressors. The police side with the class enemy. The media is going berserk blaming us as promoters of violence, saying we are anti-nationals. They never point to the fact that violence by the system takes place every day.
The attack on Muslims, rapes and murder of women, lynching of the Dalits, last years’ mass killing of Muslims, pogroms of 1992 that built the fascists who are in power now – all these attacks are seen with indifference by the rulers and their media or with jubilation as they venting their revenge on the most oppressed.
This is our turn. Every single person in this march has a potential to become a communist. We are clearly seeing that communism is the ONLY solution. Communism must become part of our way of life. The masses are hungry, and they desperately need our ideas to channel our and their anger toward creating a communist world.
We will be talking to you soon comrade, for now join and carry our struggle. ONE ICWP – ONE FIGHT – COMMUNISM!
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